THE EMPLOYERS WILL COMPENSATE FOR THE REMOTE WORKERS’ EXPENSES

It became known that the Ministry of Labor supported the draft law on the compensation for the remote employees. We are talking about operating expenses: electricity, Internet, etc.

The Labor Code might soon be supplemented by the amendments that have already been approved by the Ministry of Labor. Due of the pandemic, many Russians switched to the remote work, and therefore there was a need to regulate the functioning of this area - the corresponding draft law has been developed by a group of deputies led by Valentina Matvienko and Vyacheslav Volodin.  

If the draft law is approved, the employees and employers will agree on the reimbursement of expenses arising from the home-based activities. In addition to the electricity and the Internet bills, it will include programs for the computer, its repair, etc.

What is more, the concept of “inviolable rest time” will be enshrined in the Labor Code, as for the moment, many employers believe that since the employees work outside the office, they should work on a round-the-clock basis.   

In this regard, the concept of “interaction hours”, during which the employer has the right to contact the employee for the work issues, will be fixed as well.

We should recall that due to the coronavirus, the number of remote workers in Russia has increased by thirty-fold and exceeded 2 million people. It is assumed that the new bill should be adopted before the end of 2020.